Stjepan Mesic

Stjepan "Stipe" Mesic (24 December 1934-) was Prime Minister of SR Croatia from 30 May to 24 August 1990 (succeeding Antun Milovic and preceding Josip Manolic), President of Yugoslavia from 30 June to 6 December 1991 (succeeding Sejdo Bajramovic and preceding Branko Kostic), and President of Croatia from 18 February 2000 to 18 February 2010 (succeeding Franjo Tudman and preceding Ivo Josipovic).

Biography
Stjepan Mesic was born in Orahovica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1934, and he worked as a municipal judge and as an industrialist before entering politics. In 1967, he became his hometown's mayor and a member of the Parliament of SR Croatia, and he began to support Croatian nationalism during the 1970s. In 1990, he joined the Croatian Democratic Union, and he served as Prime Minister of Croatia in 1990. In 1991, he became President of Yugoslavia, serving for less than a year; he resigned due to his belief that Yugoslavia no longer existed. He disagreed with Franjo Tudman's policies with Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially his alleged involvement with Slobodan Milosevic, leading to him leaving the HDZ. He served as President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010 as an independent, succeeding Tudman after his death. Mesic was always the most popular politician in Croatia, and he left office in 2010.